continuing proofs America is wacko [3]

Having a language where it's possible to spell a word like "Bjørn" without causing a ruckus is what we'd call 'peculiar'. Clearly we're missing out on a lot of linguistic excitement.

In a pinch you could go with the Swedish Björn, or Bjoern. Or since we're in the Shire; Tolkien's Beorn.

Amarië wrote:Yeah I totally ment to use the more positive 'exceptional' rather than 'peculiar', quite right you are, languages you know, can get tricky, wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that bear arms was a 'peculiar' thing, specially not anyone known to have access to bears, I am very pro bears, my son has a teddybear named Sol and I know people named Bjørn, so 'exceptional', yes, that's the word I'd use.

I've learned to be very careful about such things. Some of my ursine friends can be very sensitive...
(and very big... )

halfwise wrote:Once again, the rare conservative making rational statements about America's gun culture and hoping for change.  Unfortunately there is no comment section.

http://theweek.com/articles/573932/conservative-case-reforming-americas-sick-gun-culture

I was really not expecting the ongoing IRA example.  Kinda weird coming from a self-described conservative considering the IRA are/were socialists.  I actually agree with some of his statements about them (the state in Northern Ireland certainly wasn't going to protect Catholics in the 1960s and had a pretty poor record even after the dissolution of the first devolved government),  but I don't know that armed insurrection is really the sort of thing you should or even can legislate for.  I'm glad he brings up the racial aspect in the history of gun control, but I'm curious as to whether he'd go the full nine yards and cheerlead for armed black insurrectionists too, whether it's the Black Panthers or Nat Turner or anyone else.

It is an interesting proposition.  Should the government make it easier for the citizenry to revolt against the government in order to resolve institutional injustices?  Wording it this explicitly sounds really fucking weird to me, but you can find a basis for this in the writings of the revolutionary era (unsurprisingly).  Thomas Jefferson's famous tree of liberty letter kinda says the same thing:

[W]hat country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure.

This quote has been hijacked by disillusioned white guys who think they are the oppressed group who needs to rise up, but setting that aside, it's making me think.  Going back to the IRA example, Jefferson's quote seems fairly relevant to the Good Friday Agreement.  The British government was reminded of the spirit of resistance, they pardoned and pacified the IRA, and gun rights in Northern Ireland remain fairly broad (though the IRA proper did decommission its arsenal).  The US government took a different approach with armed black groups (well, the approach the British had been using before 1997), but on the other hand, those had a much smaller base of public support than the IRA did.

On the other hand, this like, goes against everything that governments are generally thought of as supposed to be doing.  Maintaining order and keeping a monopoly on the legitimate use of force and protecting its citizens' life and property.  I guess the real takeaway is how of the truly revolutionary stuff got stripped out or watered down once the founders actually got around to the business of running the new country (in between raping their slaves ... let's not kid ourselves and think Jefferson or anyone else would have applied this shit to blacks for a second; and probably not Catholics either).

Obummer is gon' take muh guns.

I'm surprised you haven't heard this line of argument before, Eldo.  It's one of the main lines of the NRA, and actually one of the most thoughtful.  Perhaps you just ignore anything the NRA says, and more power to you.

A thoughtful conservative I knew who strongly backed the NRA (I didn't before believe that 'thoughtful' and 'NRA' could go in the same sentence) said "a government should be afraid of its citizens".  

It's the one thought coming from the gun lobby that gives me pause. It's a deep and seductive concept.

halfwise wrote:

A thoughtful conservative I knew who strongly backed the NRA (I didn't before believe that 'thoughtful' and 'NRA' could go in the same sentence) said "a government should be afraid of its citizens".  

Too many people in this camp seem to equate "fear" with "respect" though. Fear can get the attention of governments, but the respect, which is really what's wanted, still has to be earned.

halfwise wrote:I'm surprised you haven't heard this line of argument before, Eldo.  It's one of the main lines of the NRA, and actually one of the most thoughtful.  Perhaps you just ignore anything the NRA says, and more power to you.

A thoughtful conservative I knew who strongly backed the NRA (I didn't before believe that 'thoughtful' and 'NRA' could go in the same sentence) said "a government should be afraid of its citizens".  

It's the one thought coming from the gun lobby that gives me pause.  It's a deep and seductive concept.

I've heard of the argument before, I just haven't really thought about it that deeply before. I guess I just dismissed it out of hand cause the militia movement in the US is pretty ridiculous on the face of things (they're the last group to have a reason to revolt) and the idea that gun owners were going to stop, for example, the Jade Helm 15 exercises was just bizarre (it's like people didn't realize the US military already controls Texas as part of the US ). But comparing them to a more organized and (at least semi) successful militant group made me think about the implications of it harder.

Mad props to Shep. Surprised he hasn't been canned yet.

I have to say I approve of those Reaper drones. its probably not very Liberal, but still, next time bug splat the bastards blowing up Palmira.

Shep is FOX News' saving grace.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nn-oregon-community-college-shooting-20151001-story.html

At least seven people were killed and 20 injured by a gunman who opened fire in a southwestern Oregon community college on Thursday, State Police Lt. Bill Fugate said.

The shooting happened at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland.

Fugate told KATU-TV that seven to 10 people were dead and at least 20 others were injured.

A photographer for the Roseburg News-Review newspaper said he saw people being loaded into multiple ambulances and taken to the local hospital.

Umpqua Community College has about 3,000 students.

“We do have multiple deceased that are on scene,” Ray Shoufler, Douglas County fire marshal, told CNN. He gave no number.

In additon to the deaths, 11 people wounded have been transported to hospitals. Two have died enroute, he said.

The injured include a woman who was shot in the chest, said Chris Boice, a Douglas County commissioner.

The shooter is "down and in custody," Boice said.

Umpqua Community College is located Roseburg, a city in southwestern Oregon about midway between Eugene and Medford.

Depressing- for those lost, for the stupidity of the laws that allow it and perhaps above all for its predictability.

That's "State of Jefferson" country, right in the heart of gun culture.

If everyone was issued a lightsaber and taught how to use it, these things wouldn't be happening.

Glib, but that's the equivalent argument we're gonna be hearing.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/02/forget-oregon-s-gunman-remember-the-hero-who-charged-straight-at-him.html?via=twitter_page

This sentence shocked me.

For the 40th time this year, the 141st time since the Sandy Hook massacre, a gunman had opened fire in a school.

I thought Obama's press conference was very good given the circumstances. I hope Fox takes him up on his challenge to the press!

Glad he called out the NRA towards the end. We need to do that more often.

Yeah, we definitely need more guns in schools.

But you have to give him credit for carrying on.

What a wally !! He seemed more concerned about keeping face rather than admit that fooking hurt !

http://pagesix.com/2015/10/30/harvey-weinstein-furious-at-tarantino-for-anti-cop-rally/

I'll let John Oliver explain the "health care gap" wherein it is possible in some states to be making too much money to afford health insurance.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/586467/john-oliver-reminds-theres-election-tuesday-medicaid-thousand-lives-stake

Yale students fail to understand the First Amendment.